The United States is a nation of immigrants. In both colossal and small ways, immigrants have contributed to American culture, to its economic and physical growth, political power, and reputation of freedom and opportunity to the world. However, debates about illegal immigration have become more heated and contentious as some have argued that the 14th amendment should only grant citizenship to those children who have at least one legal immigrant parent. I, on the other hand, do not believe that the 14th amendment be interpreted in such a way that only the children of legal immigrants be granted citizenship due to multiple reasons.
In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment made birthright citizenship a part of the United States Constitution. The Amendment clearly states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Furthermore, the Fourteenth Amendment Section 1 demands, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
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Our history has been long and largely known for continuously expanding the community of people as Americans to naturalized citizens of all races and ethnicities. Citizenship has never been denied to any children born in the U.S ever since the United States abolished slavery. This long history of who is an American is critical for our successful acceptance of millions of newcomers. We should not betray this value and instead of amending the constitution to eliminate “anchor babies” which is what opponents of birthright citizenship call U.S. citizens, we should assist them in becoming great American citizens to help contribute to the success of our